Reading List: An Introduction to Audio in the Arts & Humanities | New Humanities Lab
Week 1: Sound and Knowing
Welcome to the New Humanities Lab at the Indianapolis Arts and Humanities Institute. During Fall 2023, we will be focused on audio technology and its role in shaping inquiry in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. To get us started, we are going to do a little exploration to answer two questions: 1) how have people worked with sound to develop new ways of knowing the world, and 2) how does this work help us think about new ways for talking across the disciplines?
The readings, videos, and music below are arranged in two sections. In the first section, “Concepts,” you will be introduced to a few concepts that we will be using throughout this semester (e.g. soundscape, sound maps, field recording, biophony, ethics). Take notes on the new ideas that you read about so we can discuss them in our weekly meeting. We will be referring back to these ideas throughout the year. In the second section, “Application,” you will read, listen, and watch how humanities artists, and scientists have used audio in their work. It will become apparent pretty quickly that thinking about knowledge through sound has lots of applications—and that many of these applications rely on creative engagement across the scholarly disciplines. Pay attention to the ways in which the scholarly disciplines inform each other. We will talk about these in our weekly meeting.
Concepts
Lawrence English, “The Sounds around Us: An Introduction to Field Recording,” The Conversation, February 8, 2015.
Bernie Krause, “Anatomy of the Soundscape: Evolving Perspectives,” Journal of the Audio Engineering Society 56, no. 1/2 (January 15, 2008): 73–80.
Judith Gray, “Returning Music to the Makers: The Library of Congress, American Indians, and the Federal Cylinder Project,” March 25, 2010.
Musique concrète (Wikipedia)
Soundscape (Wikipedia)
Sound Map (Wikipedia)
Application
“Audibility - Virtual Pauls Cross Website,” February 20, 2013, https://vpcross.chass.ncsu.edu/audibility/.
Kyla Mandel, “Scientists Are Using Sound To Unlock Our Planet’s Secrets,” Time, May 12, 2023.
Week 2: Sound Studies
At the end of this session, students will have a sense of the field known as Sound Studies as well as some of the reasons that many scholars consider it an important field. They will continue to practice on the H1n recorders and learn how to use the Podtrack equipment for multi-track recording.
CONCEPTS
Violeta Nigro Giunta and Nicolò Palazzetti, “‘New Avenues for Listening.’ Sensory Culture in the Digital Age and the Persistence of Utopia: An Interview with Michael Bull,” Transposition. Musique et Sciences Sociales, no. 6 (December 15, 2016), https://doi.org/10.4000/transposition.1580.
APPLICATION
Hanae Armitage, “Sound Research: Scientific Innovations Harness Noise and Acoustics for Healing,” Stanford Medicine Magazine, May 21, 2018, https://stanmed.stanford.edu/innovations-helping-harness-sound-acoustics-healing/.
“Moon Impacts,” SYSTEM Sounds (blog), accessed September 30, 2023, https://www.system-sounds.com/moon-impacts/.
Arctic Winds, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8p1L33MW3Q